


Can't Sleep

by WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday



Series: Insomnia [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bellarke, Confessions, F/M, One Shot, Sneaking Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2905610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday/pseuds/WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bellamy can't sleep, and gets up to do some more work, the last thing he expects is to be following Clarke through the woods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Sleep

Bellamy's eyes fluttered open at just past 2am. He stared at the roof of his tent, tried to settle his heart, calm his mind, but he kept seeing shapes in the shadows cast by the folds in the fabric, so instead he sat up and pulled on his boots.

It had been a hell of a week, and the last thing he needed was to be working more when he really should have been sleeping. Octavia had been visiting her grounder boyfriend with enough frequency that Bellamy was sure he was growing an ulcer, and half the camp had come down with a cold which filled the forest with sniffs and coughs. It was getting colder everyday, and animals were getting scarcer and scarcer, and after the fire in the smokehouse, Bellamy had no idea how he was going to keep everyone well fed enough to survive. 

It was while he was getting himself caught up in this net of thoughts, that he spotted someone leaving camp - Octavia, again, probably. With a growl, he jogged over to follow her, an angry lecture springing into his mind with each step.

But when his boots hit the forest floor outside the camp entrance, he stopped. He had expected to see a head of dark hair vanishing into the trees, but instead, he found a tangled mess of blonde heading further out of camp. Clarke.

He hadn't seen his co-leader for a day or two, and even before then it had only been a minute or two here and there for about a week. She was so busy trying to find a way of keeping the cold from spreading, and treating those who’. Plus, with the ground getting wetter with autumn rain, there had been a few more sprained ankles and injured body parts from people slipping in wet mud.

Bellamy was curious as to where Clarke was heading, and she took precedence over the mess in his head, so silently, he crept after her.

They walked for a couple of kilometres - Clarke stopping every so often to listen for any sound to indicate that she wasn't alone, and Bellamy following, wondering where the hell she was going.

Did she also have a grounder _friend_ that Bellamy didn't know about? He wouldn't put it past her - she wanted peace between the Ark kids and the grounders almost as much as that idiot Finn did.

But after a couple of minutes, he got his answer.

Clarke finally stopped In the middle of a clearing in the trees. It was positioned at the top of a small hill, with a tiny little meadow full of wild flowers covering the ground like a blanket. Bellamy stopped a few trees back from the edge of the clearing.

There was a three-quarter moon out, bright enough that Bellamy could make out boulders in the grass, and about 2 metres into the forest on the other side of the clearing. He could see if anyone else joined them, if he needed to.

But he didn't sense any immediate danger, so he took an indulgent moment to simply watch Clarke. The moonlight illuminated her pale skin as she turned her face to look up to the night sky, and her hair turned to an ethereal shade of white gold. He watched, almost transfixed as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening to stare up at the moon again.

Bellamy wondered what she was thinking about, looking up at where they'd all come from. How could she miss it up on the Ark? How could she miss living in a floating tin can, when Earth held more freedom than any of them could have ever have dreamed of, reading books back on the Ark?

_SNAP!_

The branch Bellamy was using to lean on snapped off, the sound cracking through the enchanting silence that had enveloped the clearing. Bellamy swore colourfully as Clarke jumped, the knife in her belt instantly in her hand. Bellamy scrunched up his face as he inwardly kicked himself, and stepped forward towards the tree line.

"Relax, princess, it's me." He said, his voice low, hands in the air.

"Bellamy?" Her voice was scandalised as she lowered her knife.

"We both know you're no good with a knife, anyway." Bellamy added with a smirk, as he stepped out into the moonlight. Clarke didn't react to his comment, just kept the same frown on her face as she replaced her knife.

"What are you doing here - did you follow me?" She asked, and Bellamy could see the heat rising in her face.

"You're lucky that I did - what if a grounder had found you instead of me?" He asked, his smirk dropping. That was a serious point - Clarke was strong and fierce, and brave (or stupid) enough to take on  a grounder, but she couldn't match up to their skill as a warrior. Just thought of it made Bellamy’s stomach tighten.

"I could have handled it." She replied, huffing as she returned her gaze to the sky. Bellamy didn't want to risk an argument, so he said nothing, just crossed his arms across his chest and tilted his head back to match hers.

"So what were you doing out here?" He asked after a minute or two of silence, glancing down at her from the corner of his eye, his face still turned towards the moon.

"I was going to the river, to get some fresh water, and the sky looked so nice..." She said quickly. The words fell out disjointed and clumsily, so even the birds in the trees could hear the lie in her voice. Bellamy grinned, and offered her an olive branch, after another couple of minutes of silence passed.

"I couldn't sleep." He said. It was his way of telling her it was okay - she didn't need to make up an excuse to get some free time. He understood.

 It was her turn not to reply. She smiled instead, something small, looking up at Bellamy from the corner of her own eyes. She sighed, looking back up at the moon.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“A sigh like that doesn’t mean nothing.” He may not have had her _Phoenixian_ education, but he knew enough about people to tell when a sigh meant more than just an exhalation of breath. He knew that kind of sigh from Clarke.

 “I know it’s stupid, I mean, look around. Apart from the people, and the germs, and the weather trying to kill us, this place… it’s incredible. It’s… heaven. On Earth.”

 Bellamy chuckled at this, a grin stretching wide across his face.

 “I’m serious. Everything’s so green and… so alive – the plants, the animals, the river, everything’s brimming with life.”

 “So what’s the issue?”

 Clarke sighed again, this time it was laced with guilt.

 “It’s just… Of course, I miss my mom and my friends and just, y’know, _people_ from the Ark, obviously, I miss them everyday. But I miss the sound of it. I miss the sound of footsteps on metal, everywhere you go. I miss windows, and tables and chairs and just _normal_ things, things we’re not going to have for a long time.” Clarke paused, and sighed again, as she lowered herself onto the grass. Bellamy quickly followed, careful to leave some space between himself and Clarke.

“We’re doing a good job, Bellamy, we’re keeping them alive and I’m so proud of that. But I’m – I’m scared. Scared that we won’t be able to keep doing what we’re doing, most of the time, but… scared too that this is it for us. Living in tents, making tables out of old bits of metal, bathing in the river.” She looked up at the sky, her eyes searching desperately for the Ark.

“What if they don’t come down for us, Bellamy? What are we supposed to do? How do we progress from this? We can’t – I mean, just the thought of pregnant girls – delivering babies down here – it’s terrifying. We don’t have the kind of drugs, the kind of facilities-“ Bellamy could hear the panic in her voice, and it echoed the fears that had crossed his mind when he’d been trying to sleep. He knew what she was feeling – the uncertainty creeping in, the weight of the responsibility on her shoulders.

“Hey.” He squeezed her shoulder, and she looked back at him as if she’d forgotten he was there. “Like you said. They’re alive. We did that. And we can keep doing it.” Bellamy assured her. His eyes bored into hers with such intensity, he could feel her shoulder relax beneath his hand. She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off before she could.

“We can cross those bridges when we get to them, but there’s no point worrying about something if it’s not even a problem yet. We’ve got bigger problems that are happening _now_ , that need our full attention.” He said calmly, and Clarke nodded reluctantly. She closed her eyes and sighed again, before she pushed herself back to up standing.

“You’re right.” She said quietly, and for a moment, the pair of them just turned and looked up, once again. Then Clarke sighed, and Bellamy looked at her. “I should go back. Someone will probably have cut something off and need it sewing back on.” She said with a weak smile.

Bellamy watched as she turned to leave, and, without thinking, he lurched and grabbed her hand. He frowned as she jerked in his grip, turning to look at him in surprise.

“Wait.” His frown softened, and he released her hand and stood, brushing himself off. “It can wait. You… we deserve a night.” He said quietly, and Clarke’s face became shadowed. Bellamy watched her argue with herself internally, and relaxed slightly when she smiled sheepishly.

“I guess… Octavia said she’d keep an eye on things until I get back.” She reasoned, walking back over to stand beside Bellamy. “I didn’t say when I’d be back.”

Bellamy grinned down at Clarke, and she smiled up at him, and then without a word they both turned their eyes to the moon once again in unison.

They stayed in the clearing until the sun was just barely below the horizon. Clarke had fallen asleep on Bellamy’s shoulder, and though Bellamy felt like he could have slept, he didn’t. Too many dangers to leave themselves vulnerable for any amount of time, and besides – Clarke muttered in her sleep, and the sound of her sleepy voice, so unguarded and free, filled Bellamy with a feeling he didn’t really want to think about for too long.

He roused her, and the pair of them walked back to the camp in amicable silence. They entered in a carefully staggered manner, so as not to rouse suspicion, but thankfully most of the kids were still in their beds. Only the guards noticed their arrival, and most of them had changed over since Bellamy and Clarke had been gone, so it didn’t really matter. They had stolen their one night, and for once, their indulgence hadn’t cost them anything more expensive than cold toes.

**Author's Note:**

> I suck so bad at summaries so if anyone wants to write me a better one, please do. Or title, for that matter.
> 
> This is just a little one-shot, not really fluffy, not really angsty, just a bit in-betweeny.
> 
> I hope you likey!  
> Beth xx


End file.
